When Everything Falls Apart
by TVObssessedGirl28
Summary: SPOILERS: 27th August 2016. My take on what might happen after seeing the promo trailer. When celebrating Charlie's 30th anniversary disaster strikes leaving one person grieving for another.
1. Chapter 1

The happiest day of their lives would become their darkest. All he remembered was seeing dust fall down like snow from the ceiling. Then everything went black.

Opening his eyes, Cal could see nothing but, a dark room covered in dust and debris. Blinking a few times his eyesight soon became adjusted to the room. In front of him, he could see most of his friends and colleagues moving about trying to help the injured. But, there was one face he didn't see. A sinking feeling crept up him. Frantically, Cal searched his surroundings hoping he would find his brother. the dread he felt inside his stomach only got worse when he couldn't find him. It didn't make sense to him. Ethan had been with him when they were trying to move out of the way. Cal slowly got to his feet. Luckily for him, he hadn't broken anything. He carefully began looking around when something caught his eye. There shattered on the floor were the remains of Ethan's glasses.

"Ethan!" Cal yelled.

No answer. Cal tried again hoping his brother would respond to him. His third call was interrupted by Fletch.

"Can I get some help over here?" Fletch called out.

Cal would have gone over to help, but all he cared about was finding Ethan. Alive if possible. Fletch with the help from Charlie and Max managed to lift the debris off. There was a gasp from Max and that when Cal knew.

It was Ethan.

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Cal metaphorically hit himself for not going over there in the first place. He saw it was where he had fallen and should have gone over behind him to check if Ethan was there. But, he hadn't. And now Ethan was trapped under the pile of dust and plaster, probably in complete agony. Cal ran over to where the other three were. He was, however, stopped by Charlie, who held his shoulders.

"Cal..." Charlie said as he blocked Cal's view.

Cal struggled to push past Charlie.

"That's my brother!"

"I know it is. That's why I need you to stay calm." Charlie tried to reassure him.

"Stay calm?" Cal yelled in his face. "How can I stay calm when I know Ethan's trapped under there?"

Cal continued to struggle against Charlie's hold but, soon gave up the fight. With Cal calming down Charlie walked over to where Dylan and Fletch were trying to assess the situation. As soon as he approached the scene in front of him, Charlie realised there was a more sombre mood to the atmosphere. A cold feeling washed through his body and Charlie knew something was wrong. Fletch looked up at him, slowly shaking his head. Charlie sighed. Cal saw Charlie look over his shoulder. His knees turned to jelly forcing him to almost collapse, but luckily he managed to find a bit of strength in him to run over. Seeing his brother's body, Cal fell to the floor. Giving Cal space to be alone with his brother, Charlie, Fletch and Max silently walked over to the gathering crowd to tell them the devastating news. The realisation of who it was underneath the rubble soon dawned on the others when they heard the news and saw Cal over by the body.

Stroking Ethan's dust covered blonde hair, Cal sobbed his heart out. His little brother was gone. Cal squeezed his eyes shut as he thought of the pain Ethan must have felt when must have seen the ceiling falling down on him. He should have found him sooner. He should have been there to hold his brother's hand and make sure he was comfortable. But, Cal hadn't. He blamed himself for not looking there in the first place. The place where Ethan was standing next to him before the disaster happened.C Cal wiped the tears from his face. Another scenario flashed through his mind. If Ethan had been knocked out when the ceiling collapsed then it would have painless. He had hoped this was the case. Cal bent over and kissed his brother's forehead. He was about to walk away when he thought he heard a small intake of breath.


	2. Chapter 2

Cal paused. There was definitely a small intake of breath. Cal knelt down beside his brother once more and waited. There it was again. He saw Ethan's chest rise slightly as he heard the intake of breath again.

"Ethan?" Cal called out quietly.

Cal gently grabbed Ethan's hand and called out his name once more.

"Charlie!" Cal called over.

When Charlie heard his name being called at first he was confused but, when he walked over to where Cal was and was told what had happened he placed two fingers against Ethan's neck to feel for a pulse. A small smile appeared across his face.

"Can we get another doctor over here!" Charlie shouted.

Dylan came over with the same look of confusion on his face.

"What is it?" he asked as he knelt down.

"We've got a faint pulse." Charlie explained.

Dylan looked at him dubiously.

"Are you sure?"

"You can check, but I'm pretty sure I know when there is a pulse or not." Charlie told him.

Although he knew Charlie would make something like that up Dylan still double checked. Happy there was a faint pulse he asked Fletch and Max to get rid of the rest of debris that was lying on top of Ethan so he could assess how serious his injuries were. While the debris was being pulled away Ethan began to regain consciousness and the pain he felt in his body was beginning to hurt. He let out a small groan. Cal instantly grabbed his hand in his and squeezed it, reassuring his brother he was there with him. Ethan continued to groan out in pain as bits of plaster, wood, and debris were being taken off him but, Cal continued to say soothing words. Within a couple of hours Ethan was free from the heavy objects and Dylan began carefully assessing the seriousness of his injuries. As Dylan examined Ethan's stomach, he winced.

"Right, we may have some internal bleeding. We need to get him to hospital ASAP." Dylan warned.

"I'm afraid it's not going to happen." David suddenly announced.

Dylan, Charlie, Max and Cal all turned towards him.

"What do you mean by that?" Cal asked.

"We're trapped." David explained. "There's a pile of debris blocking the doorway and it's going to take at least an hour maybe two the most to move everything away."

"We don't have that time." Dylan said. "If we don't get him to the hospital in the next 30 minutes he's going to bleed to death."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Cal urged. "Get the debris away."

"With what?" David said.

Although everyone knew David didn't mean to be a nuisance, it sure felt like it.

"Use your hands." Max said.

"It's too heavy." Iain stated. "We're going to have to wait for the fire brigade to arrive."

"Ethan doesn't have that long." Cal said. "I'm not going to lose him."

Cal then turned to Dylan.

"Isn't there something we can do here?"

Dylan shook his head.

"Ethan needs surgery to stop the bleeding. I can't do it here. Even if I could I'm not qualified to do such a procedure."

"But, I can."


	3. Chapter 3

Dylan along with Cal turned towards the person who had spoken. It was Elle. But, by the way she was holding her wrist it was clear to them she wouldn't be able to do the procedure either.

"You are certainly more qualified than me." Dylan agreed. "But, by the state of your wrist, I don't think you'll be doing it either."

Elle looked down at her wrist. As a doctor, she knew her wrist was only sprained so if she kept it in a splint, she would be able to do the procedure. And also, she was the only senior doctor who could do it.

"There's no one else who's professionally qualified. It's the only choice we have." Elle said.

Just when Dylan was about to give Elle the nod, Cal stepped forward.

"I'll do it."

"Cal, you can't. You're a family member." Charlie said.

"I've done it before. I'll do it again."

"That was under different circumstances."

"How is it different? I treated Ethan before, I can treat him again."

"Look, Cal. I don't want to have an argument with but, you can't treat your brother and that's final!" Charlie told him.

Before the conversation could escalate into an argument Elle took over.

"We're wasting time here. Since I'm the more senior doctor here, Cal may do the procedure under my supervision."

"Good, then let's get this procedure on its way." Dylan said.

While Fletch and Charlie prepped the scene for Elle and Cal to do the operation, Elle and Dylan went off to see what instruments and other materials were available to them. The atmosphere was tense as everyone watched Cal make the first incision into Ethan's stomach. 15 minutes into the operation it was all going well until things turned for the worst.

"He's bleeding out!" Cal said as he frantically tried to stop his brother from bleeding to death.


End file.
